No Springtime in the Rockaways

My in-laws' front yard in the Rockaways.

We visited my in-laws this weekend, for the first time since the hurricane.  It was, for me, an unexpected consequence of Sandy:  all the vegetation in the Rockaways is dead, killed by saltwater and sand.  The typical suburban landscape with trees, bushes, flowers, and lawns looks strange--desolate and barren. I don't remember noticing that about post-hurricane New Orleans with its urban landscape or devastated beach communities with no lawns.  Or maybe it's because I didn't know those communities as well in the first place.  I wonder if this is what the tsunami-inundated places looked like a year or more later--brown where there had once been green?  People in the Rockaways, who have hurricane fatigue, are again cleaning--this time clearcutting gardens and lawns, piling dead wood on the curb for pick up, shoveling up inches of debris-filled soil.  My in-laws have lost all their greenery, front and back, their little bit of yard filled with glass and sand.  And, having only just completed repairs inside the house, I'm not sure they can even contemplate repairs outside.  Especially with Ma having a cornea transplant next Tuesday and Gong starting cancer treatment on Wednesday.  For all of these reasons, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Best. Halloween. Ever.

This morning, Sis and Bud, with the help of our young neighbor/babysitter M, distributed upwards of 60 pumpkin flyers to our three-block area announcing "Trick-Or-Treat Tuesday" in lieu of the town-appointed celebration day tomorrow, for which forecasters now predict a Nor'easter.  And tonight, their efforts paid off!  Sis and Bud went trick-or-treating with 16 neighborhood kids, some of whom they had just met for the first time (as we all shivered in the 34F!!!).  We just kept picking up kids as we went along.  Everyone was extra-thrilled to be out trick-or-treating after the storm last week and the postponement--it was like a bonus!  It was great to spend time with the neighbors, to talk to the ones I usually only see driving by and to meet a few new ones on the blocks further down (we don't all go to the same schools so we don't all know each other).  Best of all, almost half of the houses hung out their pumpkin flyers and welcomed our kids with candy!  Some bars were even regular sized, not mini!  (And there was the usual toothpaste/toothbrush house.)  There were even a few other groups who rang our bell after our kids started sorting their hauls at home, kids who got into the spirit after seeing that Halloween was really happening a day earlier than a week later!   I'm so proud of my kiddos for helping to make it happen for themselves and their new friends.  And I'm tickled with myself that it actually worked a thousand times better than I expected.   A great community-spirited night! 

Frankenstorm: Worries

In the grand scheme of things, our family has been very lucky.

But I read the paper and hear the stories:  no power, no heat, no plumbing, no food, no water, no communication lines.

It has happened before, elsewhere, notably New Orleans after Katrina as well as Houston after Rita.  But now it is happening in one of the most densely-populated regions of the country:  NJ, NYC, the suburbs.   It has affected millions.

And it will happen again.

So, how do we prepare?  Most of us don't have enough room to plant gardens to sustain us, "volunteer" trees for possible firewood (or the tools to cut one down), space for a self-composting outhouse as Heather Bruggeman and Karen L R mention, the ability to dig a well for water.  We can't prepare to live off the grid.  We are the grid.

If I wanted to live on the land, I'd be there already.  I like semi-urban living.

Except when it breaks.

Even if we have generators, we need gasoline.   And we've seen how quickly and easily that supply can be interrupted. Even if we store a year's worth of meals, a la the Mormons, we can't actually cook them on our outdoor grills without fuel.  And if we don't have that supply of meals, what food will we eat?  The prep-for-three-days is woefully inadequate.  And what about water?

I don't have any answers.  I'm not sure anyone really does.  But I know I'll be thinking on it before next year.

And maybe buying a generator anyway.

Frankenstorm: Cleaning Up

We spent part of yesterday cleaning up our yard, piling huge broken branches at the curb for pick up and corralling what leaves we could in bags and cans.  We gave up--our yard is full of leaves and our trees haven't even dropped yet; they were all blown in during the storm from other people's trees.  They were pretty though--green ones mixed with yellow, red, orange, and maroon.

Then this evening, spurred on by, well, hurricanes and loss, we also purged our upstairs bookcases, removing 4 huge bags of books to donate to our church book sale.  Of course, this is in no way directly related to the storm, just our way of reflecting on how unimportant most of the stuff we keep is.

As we reflect on how hard it is to lose the stuff that is important . . . .

The bigger clean-up is happening in the Rockaways at my in-laws' house, where their basement sustained major flooding.  Of course, their basement is like our attics and garages in Houston, the repository of all seasonal items plus other storage; theirs was huge and also finished and so had the washer/dryer, sewing machine, off-season clothes, all of Gong's myriad tools and electronics, big box warehouse extras, and years of memories including childhood toys, photo albums, Thailand souvenirs, Christmas decorations, Chinese New Year decorations and singing turtle ("Gong si ni!"), and so much else.

Almost all gone, soaked in saltwater, sand, and sewage.  Devastating.  We know other people have lost so much more--loved ones, everything material--but this is our loss, shared by all of us, and it's hard.

They had help lugging all their things to the curb, where it will sit until sanitation can come.  The entire neighborhood is lined with huge drifts of garbage.  This makes it extra hard because they have to see the destroyed, beloved items every time they go to the house.

The cars are still in the driveway, totaled.  Eventually the insurance company will come get them.

Now my in-laws are just taking what they can out of the house--the remaining pictures, Buddhas from their altar, diplomas, calligraphy scroll Lao Gong had written, jewelry, etc--for fear of fire or looting while they stay at a nearby hotel.  Soon, they'll move into a unit in the small apartment house they own, when their tenant moves out at the middle of the month.  Very fortuitous.  We're gathering up our leftover furniture for them to use in the interim so they don't have to move their own furniture.  They probably won't be able to move back home for 6 months or more, something to do with the gas lines, as I understand it.

I think it's the toys and Christmas decorations that seem to hurt everyone the most.  The toys are Mama's and Goo's, from their childhoods, which Ma and Gong gleefully shared with Sis and Bud every time we visited--old Lego soccer game, a moving penguin game, Barbies with a horse that Sis loved, a wooden labyrinth game that Bud adored, and all the toys that they hadn't gotten to see yet.

And Christmas.  Almost 40 years of decorations and ornaments which they gathered to celebrate their adopted holiday.  Every year we'd visit and Ma would proudly show the stockings, the dancing/singing critters, the ornaments and tell the different stories behind the Snoopy sets, the Angels, the little Eskimo Girl with her arctic friends.  They're mostly Hallmark and some could be replaceable.  But some won't be.

With Christmas just a month and a half away, it's especially hard to take.

Particularly when they probably won't even get to spend it at home.

Frankenstorm : Phone

Our phone connection is apparently intermittent.   We still have power and are okay.

Frankenstorm: Unlimited Screen Time

It's not my usual parenting approach, but I have lifted all restrictions on screen time and snacks.  The kids are watching movies and tv, playing DS and iPad apps, and eating their "storm snacks" and early Halloween candy.

Sure, I could arrange arts and crafts and game time, healthy snacks and proper mealtimes, but I'm enjoying the break from structure, too.  There's enough time for rules later.

Besides it was exactly this kind of departure from the routine that made Hurricanes Allen and Alicia so exciting when I was a kid (for an essay on how kids and adults view storms differently, see Motherlode here.)

Frankenstorm: Reaching Out

We've made contact with several of our friends and neighbors, most of whom have power and no damage.  A few, however, have no power and therefore no heat (yes, most of us have gas heat and radiators, but you still need electricity for it to work)--and it was below 40 this morning and will freeze this weekend!  So we're having visitors today, Sis and Bud's classmate I. who co-hosted the bake sale and her brothers and mom perhaps later, and then also maybe an old church friend and her children.  We'll see.

All of which is to say, we're open for business, with showers, radiant heat, recharging capabilities, washer/dryer, and  hot food, so even if you can't reach us by  phone, just come on over!

Frankenstorm: Without Frankenstein

It was oddly quiet last night and I almost completely forgot it was Halloween.  Indeed, I was surprised at first to see a few posts of family and friends in costume!  And even though our Halloween was delayed, Target was replacing pumpkins with snowmen and ghosts with Christmas trees right on schedule.  After the initial disappointment, I think the kids forgot, too, and we had a very normal night.  Even with power and phone/internet out all over, everyone seemed to have gotten the message about the postponement; we didn't hear a single ghost or goblin.

We have a party Friday night, possibly, and our own Halloween next week, so we still get to celebrate.

Frankenstorm: Monday Night

No doubt about it, Monday evening was scary.  We stayed away from the windows as best we could as little foot-long branches intermittently slammed against the windows, especially the back patio door plate glass, so we eventually closed the curtains to offer what flimsy resistance to any broken glass they could; nothing broke.  The wind would howl and shake the house sometimes so loudly that you couldn't hear yourself think.  And the lights would flicker.  What trees we did look at shook and bent in contortions you would have thought impossible.  But there was hardly any rain, with our gauge measuring less than an inch for the entire storm.

For the whole day as we waited for the storm to kick up, we used power like we would never see it again, knowing any second it could blink out, for a long time--running the dishwasher and washing machine trying to stay ahead and prevent a backlog in case we did lose power, playing the radio loud enough not to hear the wind sometimes, having all the lights on for a sense of security.  The kids actually wanted the power to go out, especially because Mama gave them night vision goggles to play with.  So we eventually just turned off the lights.  I was still glad of hot meals and hot water.  I think I had 10 cups of tea that evening, as if each one could be my last.  I found them very comforting and reassuring.  I also made hot chocolate to use up the milk and we ate a lot of perishables out of the fridge--eggs in scramble and in pancakes, chickenless nuggets, soymilk and frozen fruit in smoothies, homemade chicken soup staying warm in the crockpot, roasted chickpeas from a batch I'd cooked earlier in the week, pinto beans turned into chili to save if the power went out, bangers and peirogi for dinner.  It was one of the oddest eating days I've ever had (which is why we went to the store today).

We were shocked to see people out in what I would've called the height of the storm.  A couple was walking their dog.  Neighbor Boy was outside with his dad, both of them being pushed backwards by the wind.  People drove around in their cars despite the threat of falling trees and powerlines.

Occasionally the phone would ring as Gommie and Pop checked in or Goo called with updates from NYC.  It was an odd connection with the outside world during relative isolation.  Though, we were both checking our phones throughout.  I found comfort in hearing from others via FB and email.

Early on we decided that we'd sleep on the ground floor, but not the basement, to be safer from falling trees. Our 75' silver maple is well within striking range of our house.  And the tree guy hadn't been able to come out to cable it before the storm; he had said it was a strong, healthy tree but cabling would just make it more secure.  I worried about that tree the whole time, especially about it falling on the neighbor's house.  So when I saw their flashlights in the darkness of their yard, I actually went out into the wind and yelled to them to see if they were okay.  They were; nothing had hit the house, but it wasn't until morning that I realized it was another neighbor's tree and not part of our own.  Ours only lost small branches.  We were so lucky.  Everyone we know was.

At some point, at the height of the wind and noise, the kids became scared and overwhelmed.  We let them each gather a bag of things from their room to keep with them, as reassurance, but they were upset, even though we tried to explain everything we'd done to make us as safe as possible and told them that the storm was probably half over.   So I turned the radio on as loud as we could bear and we danced to Katy Perry's "Firework."  I'd never heard the line, "after the hurricane comes the rainbow," before, but it was oddly apropos.  We also danced to "Friday" and other perky songs covered on "Glee."  Then,as I mentioned earlier, Mama produced a surprise from her "magic trunk" that she'd been saving for a year:  kids' night vision goggles (from Spynet).  The kids were thrilled and ran around the artificially darkened house spying things they couldn't see otherwise.  It made the dark less scary.  Then we turned the lights back on.  They were mostly okay after that, their confidence and bravery restored.

The cats, however, fretted about most of the day and night, jumping up into places, like the top of the kitchen cabinets, that they'd never ventured before.  Treats and cat grass and cat nip didn't help.  Albus especially kept meowing, I'm sure he was trying to warn us about the storm.  They've pretty much been asleep, exhausted, since late Monday night!

After a hot dinner, we finally settled down in our spots, forgoing baths and even brushing.  By then, the wind had changed direction and was less thunderous but still strong. The enclosed porch on our south side protects the house and so things didn't rattle as hard.  We all read and then turned out the lights.  It took a long time for them to fall asleep.  Mama and I read the paper and talked to family but eventually went to bed ourselves.  Sometime in the night I became aware that the deafening gusts had stopped.

And we still had power!

Frankenstorm: Afterwards

We are still definitely in storm mode here.  The sound of chainsaws can be heard up and down the street, as well as the duller groan of construction vehicles dealing with downed trees and powerlines.  No street was spared, though as a town we seem luckier than many, as far as power outages go.  Most of my friends have power, save a few, and I've heard from most of them; even the ones without power have been active on FB, no doubt from their smartphones.  How did we handle the hurricanes of my youth without smartphones?  I guess you were friends with your immediate neighbors mostly.  I haven't heard from Shellley and hope they are safe--how are you?  You are welcome here if you need power, etc.  I also haven't heard from my friend on the Lower East Side or my friend in NJ.  I hope both are safe.

We still have power and telephone.  But no school for the rest of the week!  And no trick or treating until next week.  The kids are loving my lifting of the no-screentime-on-weekdays rule, because, of course, these aren't school days!  They've watched Pokemon, Ninjago, and the Lego spoof, "The Empire Strikes Out," and are now playing DS.  I haven't been watching tv, though understand my parents were glued to it to keep tabs on us.  I've been getting my news from the NYTimes--the devastation is overwhelming.  CT's own news source, the CTPost, is disappointing in its coverage and not really even worth checking.  My local Patch has better news and even the NYTimes has CT updates.

We went on an adventure earlier today, to the local stores, realizing that if shipments don't get through the stores could run out of staples.  Of course, we also ate, in advance, all of our perishables and needed eggs, milk, and soymilk.  The first store was on generator power and pretty dark, but still open; however, they had to toss all of their perishables.  The kids got some Pokemon cards and I picked up extra pasta, sauce, macaroni and cheese, and canned soup.  Then we headed to another store, also on generator--but their generator must have been stronger because their perishables were still cold and okay.  We got milk, soymilk, eggs, cheese, ground turkey, and a few other things.  We delivered some eggs to a friend afterwards and were able to see how so many trees and powerlines were down.  No wonder there's no school or trick or treating.

I'll post later about our experience of the storm and some new tips I've picked up, also about my in-laws, whose neighborhood in the Rockaways was hit hard.  Their house was spared the fires but not the water, which has completely decimated the basement and their cars, as far as we can tell.  Still they were lucky--the house at the end of the street, just eight houses away, was washed out to sea.  It must have been terrifying.  I know Mama and her brother Goo were worried sick about them. They left the area last night to stay with Goo and went back today temporarily.  It'll be a long recovery, I think.

We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the storm.

Frankenstorm : The Trick is No Treat

Halloween is postponed until next Wednesday.

Frankenstorm : The Tree

The downed tree in our neighbor's yard is not part if ours, about which I am oddly happy.  It didn't hit their house thankfully.

Frankenstorm : Early

Awake to news of fire in the Rockaways.  Thankfully not in Mama's parents section.  Prayers for Breezy Point residents and firefighters.
We still have power.  The wind gusts are lighter.  Mama's parents are flooded in the basement.  I still can't see what part of the tree fell.
We'll know more as the day progresses.
If you are in our area and need power, you are welcome here.

Frankenstorm

Phone deleted long post which essentially said we're okay and still have power.

Frankenstorm : Near Miss

We think a large limb from our huge silver maple went down in the neighbors' yard.  We saw them out with lights... they are all okay.  I don't think it hit them.  Thank heavens.

Frankenstorm : Mama's Magic Trunk

Mama's trunk is magic even in a hurricane!
Three magic words :  Night vision goggles.

Frankenstorm : Dance Party

Kids scared so I turned up music very loud.
Katy Perry words of wisdom:  "After the hurricane comes a rainbow. "
Using power like we're headed into the Dark Ages.

Frankenstorm : Still Waiting

Sound of Music, a hot lunch, another load of dishes, a hot cuppa, a puzzle, a nap for me, a few flickers of the power, not too much looking at news, a 6' branch down by the hydrant.  It's darker, windier, and rainier.  I think we'll sleep downstairs.
People wanting to read about our area, go to our town on Patch.com.

Frankenstorm : Waiting

Rumor has it they're shutting our power sub station down soon.  So we're heating food, running the last load, and getting ready.
Also, it might actually have started to rain a bit.  The wind has been increasingly gusty.  It's going to be an interesting 24 hours.
Good luck, all!

Frankenstorm: Waking Up

Strong gusts woke us up early today, combined with worries for my in-laws who refused to comply with mandatory evacuation orders in the low-lying, oceanfront Rockaways.  Our cats are even a bit twitchy.  We're planning a big cooked breakfast when the blissfully asleep kids awaken.